The application of hair treatment compositions to distinct hair bundles is a popular and conventional way of changing hair appearance. Hair treatment compositions for creating hair bundle effects include highlighting compositions, dyeing compositions, perming compositions, styling compositions or mixtures thereof.
Hair bundle effects such as those provided by highlighting compositions and dyeing compositions must be precisely applied where desired. The instructions provided by manufacturers of consumer products for creating hair bundle effects are generally confined to how to mix and safely apply the hair treatment composition to the hair. However, at home consumers are faced with the challenge of applying the hair treatment composition in a tidy and clean manner and reproducing hair bundle effects similar to those obtained at professional salons.
For example, if an excessive amount of hair treatment composition is applied to the hair bundle, that hair treatment composition may transfer to the remaining hair and may alter the overall end result. In addition, hair treatment compositions such as highlighting and dyeing compositions comprise strong oxidants to bleach the melanin pigments. In view of their reactive chemical nature, most applications of highlighting and dyeing compositions, if unexpectedly delivered in excess to the root-line of the hair bundle may also transfer to the scalp. This can lead in some cases to unnecessary scalp irritation. Finally, uneven application of a hair treatment composition along the length of the hair bundles may create a visually unacceptable end result.
The cap and hook system for creating highlighting is well known in the art. The cap (2) is provided with holes (4) as shown in FIG. 1. The cap (2) is positioned tightly over the hair and the scalp and a hair bundle (11) is then selected by pulling out the hair bundle (11) through the hole (4) with a hook (3). This step is repeated for a plurality of hair bundles. The selected hair bundles are then treated with a highlighting composition. The cap and hook system suffers from several drawbacks. First, the process of pulling the hair bundles through the holes in the cap is painful. Second, the choices as to the location of the hair bundle to be treated are limited to where the holes are in the cap. Thirdly, the process of pulling the hair bundles through the holes can lead to unexpected end results, because the hair bundle pulled through the hole does not necessarily come from the scalp directly below the hole.
Some alternatives to the cap and hook system have been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,231, US2003/0024544 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,968. Nevertheless, none of these disclosures provide for a device that allows for the self-application of a hair treatment composition in a tidy, clean and non-messy fashion and for creating similar hair bundle effects as those obtained at professional salons.
It is generally recognized that the self-application of hair treatment compositions for creating hair bundle effects are difficult per se, in particular those for creating highlighting. To achieve the expected end results, a device capable of facilitating the self-application of hair treatment compositions needs to be conceived to address several technical challenges.
The device should facilitate consumers in the application of hair treatment compositions for creating a quality of hair bundle effects comparable to those created by professional stylists. The device should be designed to apply hair treatment compositions typically formulated as gel, cream or paste, avoiding displacement and dripping out of the hair treatment composition from the device during use to prevent messiness. The device should be easy to use; it should be doubtless cheap and easy to produce and it should not require any special experience and training in matters such as how much and where to load the hair treatment composition. Ideally, the consumer should be able to load and use the applicator by simply following a few instructions provided by the manufacturer.
Thus, what still remains to be solved in the art is a device capable of overcoming the technical problem defined above.
It has now been found that the device (as defined herein after) can significantly improve the application of hair treatment compositions for providing hair bundle effects.